SPHINX - Woman-Headed Lion of Greek Mythology Sphinx, Athenian red-figure kylix C6th B.C., Museum of Fine Arts Boston THE SPHINX was a female monster with the body of a lion, the head and breast of a woman, eagle's wings and, according to some, a serpent's tail. She was sent by the gods to plague the town of Thebes as punishment for some ancient crime, preying on its youths and devouring all who failed to solve her riddle. The regent of Thebes, King Kreon (Creon), offered the throne to the one who would destroy her. Oidipous (Oedipus) took up the challenge, and when he solved the Sphinx's riddle, she cast herself off the mountainside in despair. Sphinxes were very popular in ancient art. They were employed as sculptural gave stelae upon the tombs of men who died in youth. In archaic vase paintings they often appear amongst a procession of animals and fabulous creatures such as lions and bird-bodied sirens.

FAMILY OF THE SPHINX [1.1] ORTHOS & KHIMAIRA (Hesiod Theogony 326) [2.1] TYPHOEUS & EKHIDNA (Apollodorus 3.52, Hyginus Pref & Fabulae 151, Lasus Frag 706A) [2.2] TYPHOEUS & KHIMAIRA (Scholiast on Hesiod & Euripides) ENCYCLOPEDIA SPHINX (Sphinx), a monstrous being of Greek mythology, is said to have been a daughter of Orthus and Chimaera, born in the country of the Arimi (Hes. Theog. 326), or of Typhon and Echidna (Apollod. iii. 5. § 8; Schol. ad Eurip. Phoen. 46), or lastly of Typhon and Chimaera (Schol. ad Hes. and Eurip. l. .c.). Some call her a natural daughter of Laius (Paus. ix. 26. § 2).

Respecting her stay at Thebes and her connection with the fate of the house of Laius. The riddle which she there proposed, she is said to have learnt from the Muses (Apollod. iii. 5. § 8), or Laius himself taught her the mysterious oracles which Cadmus had received at Delphi (Paus. ix. 26. § 2). According to some she had been sent into Boeotia by Hera, who was angry with the Thebans for not having punished Lains, who had carried off Chrysippus from Pisa. She is said to have come from the most distant part of Ethiopia (Apollod. l. c. ; Schol. ad Eurip. Phoen. 1760); according to others she was sent by Ares, who wanted to take revenge because Cadmus had slain his son, the dragon (Argum. ad Eurip. Phoen.), or by Dionysus (Schol. ad Hes. Theog. 326), or by Hades (Eurip. Phoen.

810), and some lastly say that she was one on the women who, together with the daughters of Cadmus, were thrown into madness, and was metamorphosed into the monstrous figure. (Schol. ad Eurip. Phoen. 45.) The legend itself clearly indicates from what quarter this being was believed to have been introduced into Greek mythology. The figure which she was conceived to have had is originally Egyptian or Ethiopian; but after her incorporation with Grecian story, her figure was variously modified. The Egyptian Sphinx is the figure of an unwinged lion in a lying attitude, but the upper part of the body is human. They appear in Egypt to have been set up in avenues forming the approaches to temples. The greatest among the Egyptian representations of Sphinxes is that of Ghizeh, which, with the exception of the paws, is of one block of stone. The Egyptian Sphinxes are often called androsphinges (Herod. ii. 175; Menandr. Fragm. p. 411, ed.

Meineke), not describing them as male beings, but as lions with the upper part human, to distinguish them from those Sphinxes whose upper part was that of a sheep or ram. The common idea of a Greek Sphinx, on the other hand, is that of a winged body of a lion, having the breast and upper part of a woman (Aelian, H. A. xii. 7; Auson. Griph. 40 ; Apollod. iii. 5. § 8; Schol. ad Eurip. Phoen. 806). Greek Sphinxes, moreover, are not always represented in a lying attitude, but appear in different positions, as it might suit the fancy of the sculptor or poet. Thus they appear with the face of a maiden, the breast, feet, and claws of a lion, the tail of a serpent, and the wings of a bird (Schol. ad Aristoph. Ran. 1287 ; Soph. Oed. Tyr. 391 ; Athen. vi. p. 253; Palaephat.

7); or the fore part of the body is that of a lion, and the lower part that of a man, with the claws of a vuiture and the wings of an eagle (Tzetz. ad Lycoph. 7). Sphinxes were frequently introduced by Greek artists, as ornaments of architectural and other works. (Paus. iii. 18. § 8, v. 11. § 2; Eurip. Elect. 471.) In the Boeotian dialect the name was phix (Hes. Theog. 326), whence the name of the Boeotian mountain, Phikion oros. (Hes. Scut. Herc. 33.) Source: Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology. ALTERNATE NAME SPELLINGS Sphinx, Athenian red-figure amphora C5th B.C., Museum of Fine Arts Boston Hesiod, Theogony 326 ff (trans.

Evelyn-White) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.) : "But she [Khimaira (Chimera)] also, in love with Orthos (Orthus), mothered the deadly Sphinx, the bane of the Kadmeians (Cadmeans) [Thebans]." Lasus, Fragment 706A (from Natale Conti, Mythology) (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric III) (Greek lyric C6th B.C.) : "The Sphinx was daughter of Ekhidna (Echidna) and Typhon, according to Lasus of Hermione." Corinna, Fragment 672 (trans. Campbell, Vol. Greek Lyric IV) (Greek lyric C5th B.C.) : "Oidipos (Oedipus) killed not only the Sphinx but also the Teumessian fox." Aeschylus, Sphinx (lost play) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) : The Sphinx was the satyr-play of Aeschylus' Oedipus-trilogy. It told the story of Oidipous' (Oedipus') encounter with the monster.

Aeschylus, Fragment 129 Sphinx (from Aristophanes, Frogs 1287 with Scholiast) (trans. Weir Smyth) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) : "The Sphinx, the watch-dog that presideth over evil days." Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes 539 ff (trans. Weir Smyth) (Greek tragedy C5th B.C.) : "[During the war of the Seven against Thebes Parthenopaios (Parthenopaeus) threatens the Thebans with the image of the Sphinx embossed on his shield :] Nor does he take his stand at the gate unboasting, but wields our city's shame on his bronze-forged shield, his body's circular defence, on which the Sphinx who eats men raw is cleverly fastened with bolts, her body embossed and gleaming. She carries under her a single Kadmean (Cadmean) [Theban], so that against this man chiefly our [the Thebans] missiles will be hurled . . .

[But] he [Aktor (Actor), a defender of Thebess] will not let in a man who carries on his hostile shield the image of the ravenous, detested beast. That beast outside his shield will blame the man who carries her into the gate, when she has taken a heavy beating beneath the city's walls." Aeschylus, Seven Against Thebes 773 ff : "For whom have the gods and divinities that share their altar and the thronging assembly of men ever admired so much as they honored Oidipous (Oedipus) then, when he removed that deadly, man-seizing plague (kêr) [i.e. the Sphinx] from our land." Pseudo-Apollodorus, Bibliotheca 3. 52 - 55 (trans. Aldrich) (Greek mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "While he [Kreon (Creon)] was king, quite a scourge held Thebes in suppression, for Hera sent upon them the Sphinx, whose parents were Ekhidna (Echidna) and Typhon.

She had a woman's face, the breast, feet, and tail of a lion, and bird wings. She had learned a riddle form the Mousai (Muses), and now sat on Mount Phikion (Phicium) where she kept challenging the Thebans with it. The riddle was: what is it that has one voice, and is four-footed and two-footed and three-footed? An oracle existed for the Thebans to the effect that they would be free of the Sphinx when they guessed her riddle, so they often convened to search for the meaning, but whenever they came up with the wrong answer, she would seize one of them, and eat him up. When many had died, including most recently Kreon's own son Haimon (Haemon), Kreon announced publicly that he would give both the kingdom and the widow of Laios (Laeus) to the man who solved the riddle. Oidipous (Oedipus) heard and solved it, stating that he answer to the Sphinx's question was man.

As a baby he crawls on all fours, as an adult he is two-footed, and as he grows old he gains a third foot in the form of a cane. At this the Sphinx threw herself from the acropolis." Herodotus, Histories 4. 79. 1 (trans. Godley) (Greek historian C5th B.C.) : "In the city of the Borysthenites [in Asia Minor] a spacious house, grand and costly . . . all surrounded by Sphinxes and Grypes (Griffins) worked in white marble." Lycophron, Alexandra 1465 (trans. Mair) (Greek poet C3rd B.C.) : "Phikian monster [i.e. the Sphinx of Mount Phikion (Phicium)], mouthing darkly her perplexed words." Pausanias, Description of Greece 9. 26. 2 (trans. Jones) (Greek travelogue C2nd A.D.) : "Farther on [beyond Thebes, Boiotia (Boeotia)] we come to the mountain from which they say the Sphinx, chanting a riddle, sallied to bring death upon those she caught.

Others say that roving with a force of ships on a piratical expedition she put in at Anthedon, seized the mountain I mentioned, and used it for plundering raids until Oidipous (Oedipus) overwhelmed her by the superior numbers of the army he had with him on his arrival from Korinthos (Corinth). There is another version of the story which makes her the natural daughter of Laius (Laeus), who, because he was fond of her, told her the oracle delivered to Kadmos (Cadmus) from Delphoi (Delphi). Now Laius had sons by concubines, and the oracle delivered from Delphoi applied only to Epikaste (Epicaste) and her sons. So when any of her brothers came in order to claim the throne from the Sphinx, she resorted to trickery in dealing with them, saying that if they were sons of Laius they should know the oracle that came to Kadmos. When they could not answer she would punish them with death, on the ground that they had no valid claim to the kingdom or to relationship.

But Oidipous came because it appears he had been told the oracle in a dream." Oedipus and the Sphinx, Athenian red-figure amphora C5th B.C., Museum of Fine Arts Boston Pausanias, Description of Greece 5. 11. 2 : "[Amongst the images depicted on the throne in the temple of Zeus at Olympia :] On each of the two front feet are set Theban children ravished by Sphinxes." Diodorus Siculus, Library of History 4. 64. 4 (trans. Oldfather) (Greek historian C1st B.C.) : "A Sphinx, a beast of double form, had come to Thebes and was propounding a riddle to anyone who might be able to solve it, and many were being slain by her because of their inability to do so. And although a generous reward was offered to the man who should solve it, that he should marry Iokaste (Jocasta) and be king of Thebes, yet no man was able to comprehend what was propounded except Oidipous (Oedipus), who alone solved the riddle.

What had been propounded by the Sphinx was this : What is it that is at the same time a biped, a triped, and a quadraped? And while all the rest were perplexed, Oidipous declared that the animal proposed in the riddle was ‘man’, since as an infant he is a quadruped, when grown a biped, and in old age a triped, using, because of his infirmity, a staff. At this answer the Sphinx, in accordance with the oracle which the myth recounts, threw herself down a precipice." Aelian, On Animals 12. 7 (trans. Scholfield) (Greek natural history C2nd A.D.) : "Egyptian artificers in their sculpture, and the vainglorious legends of Thebes attempt to represent the Sphinx, with her two-fold nature, as of two-fold shape, making her awe-inspiring by fusing the body of a maiden with that of a lion. And Euripides suggests this when he says `And drawing her tail in beneath her lion's feet she sat down.'" Aelian, On Animals 12.

38 : "Every painter and every sculptor who devotes himself and has been trained to the practise of his art figures the Sphinx as winged." Pseudo-Hyginus, Fabulae 67 (trans. Grant) (Roman mythographer C2nd A.D.) : "The Sphinx, offspring of Typhon, was sent into Boeotia, and was laying waste the fields of the Thebans. She proposed a contest to Creon, that if anyone interpreted the riddle which she gave, she would depart, but that she would destroy whoever failed, and under no other circumstances would she leave the country. When the king heard this, he made a proclamation throughout Greece. He promised that he would give the kingdom and his sister Jocasta in marriage to the person solving the riddle of the Sphinx. Many came out of greed for the kingdom, and were devoured by the Sphinx, but Oedipus, son of Laius, came and interpreted the riddle. The Sphinx leaped to her death. Oedipus received his father's kingdom." Hyginus, Fabulae 151 : "From Typhon the giant and Echidna were born . . .

the Sphinx which was in Boeotia." Ovid, Metamorphoses 7. 759 ff (trans. Melville) (Roman epic C1st B.C. to C1st A.D.) : "The riddle that had baffled earlier brains was solved by Laiades [Oidipous (Oedipus) son of Laius] and headlong down the Carmina [Sphinx] had fallen, her mysteries forgotten." Seneca, Oedipus 87 ff (trans. Miller) (Roman tragedy C1st A.D.) : "[Oidipous (Oedipus) speaks :] Far from me is the crime and shame of cowardice, and my valour knows not dastard fears . . . The Sphinx, weaving her words in darkling measures, I fled not; I faced the bloody jaws of the fell prophetess and the ground white with scattered bones. And when from a lofty cliff, already hovering over her prey, she prepared her pinions and, lashing her tail like a savage lion, stirred up her threatening wrath, I asked her riddle.

Thereupon came a sound of dread; her jaws crashed, and her talons, brooking no delay, eager for my vitals, tore at the rocks. The lot's intricate, guile-entangled words, the grim riddle of the winged beast, I solved. Why too late dost thou now in madness pray for death? Thou hadst thy chance to die. This sceptre is thy meed of praise, this thy reward for the Sphinx destroyed. That dust, that cursed dust of the artful monster is warring against me still; that pest which I destroyed is now destroying Thebes. [I.e. the land is suffering from drought and pestilence and Oidipous incorrectly blames the ghost of the dead Sphinx]." Oedipus and the Sphinx, Athenian red-figure stamnos C5th B.C., Musée du Louvre Seneca, Oedipus 245 ff : "Oedipus : Did any fear prevent a pious duty? [i.e. the proper burial of the dead.] Creon : Aye, the Sphinx and the dire threats of her accursèd chant." Statius, Thebaid 2. 500 ff (trans.

Mozley) (Roman epic C1st A.D.) : "At a distance from the city [of Thebes] two hills bear close upon each other with a grudging gulf between; the shadow of a mountain above and leafy ridges of curving woodland shut them in . . . Through the middle of the rocks threads a rough and narrow track, below which lies a plain and a broad expanse of sloping fields.

Over against it a threatening cliff rises high, the home of the winged monster [the Sphinx] of Oedipus; here aforetime she stood, fierce uplifting her pallid cheeks, her eyes tainted with corruption and her plumes all clotted with hideous gore; grasping human remains and clutching to her breast half-eaten bones she scanned the plains with awful gaze, should any stranger dare to join in the strife of riddling words, or any traveller confront her and parley with her terrible tongue; then, without more ado, sharpening forthwith the unsheathed talons of her livid hands and her teeth bared for wounding, she rose with dreadful beating of wings around the faces of the strangers; nor did any guess her riddle, till caught by a hero that proved her match, with failing wings--ah! horror!--from the bloody cliff she dashed her insatiate paunch in despair upon the rocks beneath.

The wood gives reminder of the dread story: the cattle abhor the neighbouring pastures, and the flock, though greedy, will not touch the fateful herbage; no Dryad choirs take delight in the shade, it ill beseems the sacred rites of the Fauni [Satyroi (Satyrs)], even birds obscene fly far from the abomination of the grove." Statius, Thebaid 1. 66 : "By wit of thy foreshowing I [Oidipous (Oedipus)] solved the riddles of the cruel Sphinx." Suidas s.v. Oidpous (trans. Suda On Line) (Byzantine Greek Lexicon C10th A.D.) : "The so-called Sphinx] appeared [at Thebes], a woman hideous and beastly in form, for having got rid of her man and having clenched her hand and having seized some difficult terrain, she would murder those who passed by. So Oidipous (Oedipus), after hatching a clever scheme, joined himself in piracy with her. Then biding his time as he planned, he took her in an ambush, and those with her." Suidas s.v.

Rhapsoidos : "Rhapsoidos (Rhapsody) : The Sphinx stitching together songs . . . Sophokles [says] : ‘Why, when the watchful dog who wove dark song was here, did you say nothing to free the people?’ He is speaking about the Sphinx." ANCIENT GREEK ART Mythical Beasts: The Greek Sphinx | The Greek Mythos Mythical Beasts: The Greek Sphinx Posted on March 15, 2015 by greekmythoss According to Greek mythology, a Sphinx was a terrible creature with the body of a lion, the head and breast of a woman with eagle wings and, at times, had a tail with the head of a serpent at the end. It is said that the Sphinx could have been the daughter of three possible couples: Orthos and Khimaira (Hesoid Theogony 326, a Greek Epic), Typhoeus and Ehkidna (Apollodorus 3.52, Greek Mythography) or Typhoeus and Khimaira (Scholiast on Hesiod & Euripides).

The Sphinx’s most important role, arguably, is the role she played in the story, The Riddle of the Sphinx. In this story, the Sphinx is sent by Hera to Thebes in Greece as punishment for a crime. The crime is said to have to do with Hera’s anger at the Thebans for not punishing a man by the name of Lains. This man had carried off Chrysippus from Pisa, and so Hera called the Sphinx from the farthest reaches of Ethiopia to guard the road to Thebes. Here, the Sphinx would pose a riddle to any traveler who dared take the road. To every single one, she posed a riddle. Any traveler who could not answer the riddle would be strangled and devoured by the monstrous beast. It should be noted that in other versions of the story, there are other gods and figures that claim to have sent her, and for their own reasons. For example, one version claims that the Sphinx is another Theban woman that had simply fallen into madness along with the daughters of Cadmus and took on the monstrous shape. Another version claims that Ares sent her to Thebes, angered at Cadmus for having slain his son, a dragon.

Some other gods that might have sent her are Dionysus or Hades. Whatever the reason, the Sphinx watched the road for a good time, long enough that the regent of Thebes, offered kingship to the man that could solve the riddle and rid them of the Sphinx. Taking the challenge, a man named Oedipus went to the Sphinx and was given the riddle. The riddle in which she poses has been modified some many times, but remains as this: “Which creature has one voice and yet becomes four-footed and two-footed and three-footed?” It is said that Oepidus answered quickly, and other say he took a great deal of time to answer the riddle, but he answered it none the less. The answer was, “Man—who crawls on all fours as a baby, then walks on two feet as an adult, and then uses a walking stick in old age.” There are times where another question is asked by the Sphinx which is: “There are two sisters: one gives birth to the other and she, in turn, gives birth to the first. Who are the two sisters?” To which the answer is day and night, both being feminine in Greek.

With the answer (both or just the one) being correct, the Sphinx throws herself over her high rock and plummets to her death. Or, in an alternate version, she devours herself. There is another ending, retold by Jean Cocteau, where the Sphinx tells Oedipus the answer in order to stop the killing, and her existence, and in hopes that Oedipus would fall in love with her. However, that story ends with Oedipus never thanking her, and continuing on with his own story where he becomes King of Thebes while the Sphinx ascends to the heavens alongside Anubis. Oedipus goes on to play a far more interesting role, thus creating the now known ‘oedipus complex.’ Here is a brief video that covers the story of King Oedipus. Share this: Sphinx | Mythology Wiki | Fandom powered by Wikia Edit The Sphinx is a zoomorphic, mythological figure depicted as a recumbent lion with a human head. It has its origins in sculpted figures of Old Kingdom Egypt, to which the ancient Greeks applied their own name for a female monster, the "strangler", an archaic figure of Greek mythology .

Similar creatures appear throughout South and South-East Asia, and the sphinx enjoyed a major revival in European decorative art from the Renaissance onwards. In Mythology Edit There was a single Sphinx in Greek mythology, a unique demon of destruction and bad luck. According to Hesiod she was a daughter of Echidna and Orthrus or, according to others, a daughter of Echidna and Typhon . All of these are chthonic figures from the earliest of Greek myths, before the Olympians ruled the Greek pantheon. She was represented in vase-painting and bas-reliefs most often seated upright rather than recumbent, as a winged lion with a woman's head; or she was a woman with the paws, claws and breasts of a lion, a serpent's tail and eagle wings. The Sphinx was the emblem of the ancient city-state of Chios, and appeared on seals and the obverse side of coins from the sixth century BC until the third century AD. The Sphinx's Riddle Edit She is said to have guarded the entrance to a certain area, often the Greek city of Thebes , and to have asked a riddle of travelers to obtain passage.

The exact riddle asked by the Sphinx was not specified by early tellers of the stories about the Sphinx, and was not standardized as the one given below until late in Greek history. It was said in late lore that Hera or Ares sent the Sphinx from her Ethiopian homeland (the Greeks always remembered the foreign origin of the Sphinx) to Thebes in Greece where, in the writings of Sophocles, Oedipus Tyrannus , she asks all passersby history's most famous riddle: "Which creature in the morning goes on four feet, at noon on two, and in the evening upon three?" She strangled and devoured anyone unable to answer. Oedipus solved the riddle, answering, "Man — who crawls on all fours as a baby, then walks on two feet as an adult, and walks with a cane in old age." Bested at last, the tale continues, the Sphinx then threw herself from her high rock and died. An alternative version tells that she devoured herself.

Thus Oedipus can be recognized as a liminal or "threshold" figure, helping effect the transition between the old religious practices, represented by the death of the Sphinx, and the rise of the new, Olympian deities. In Ancient Culture Edit From the Bronze Age the Hellenes had trade and cultural contacts with Egypt. Before the time that Alexander the Great occupied Egypt their name, sphinx, was already applied to these statues. The historians and geographers of Greece wrote extensively about the Egyptian culture and their writings were circulated widely with Greek and Roman culture. They sometimes called the ram-headed sphinxes, criosphinxes and the bird-headed ones, hierocosphinxes. The word "Sphinx" comes from the Greek Σφιγξ — Sphingx, apparently from the verb σφιγγω — sphinggo, meaning "to strangle" (note that the γ takes on a 'ng' sound in front of both γ and ξ). This may be a name derived from the fact that the hunters for a pride are the lionesses and they kill their prey by strangulation, biting the throat of prey and holding them down until they die.

The word "sphincter" derives from the same root. Popular Culture A sphinx appeared in the third task in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, guarding the final trophy. To get past, one must answer a riddle about a spider. The sphinx was not in the film adaption. A Greek sphinx is in the book Mythical Monsters. A Greek sphinx appears in Percy Jackson and the Battle of the Labyrinth. She behaves like a game show host, but doesn't ask her signature riddle. Instead, she asks a series of general knowledge questions which confuse Percy and his group as they were prepared for her to ask the riddle, which they could easily have solved. Riddle of the Sphinx - Guerrilla Explorer by David Meyer A sphinx is a mythical creature with the body of a lion and the head of a human. According to the ancient Greeks, any traveler who wished to enter Thebes had to first solve “The Riddle of the Sphinx.” Those who failed to answer it correctly were strangled and eaten. What was the riddle? And who finally bested the Sphinx? The Riddle of the Sphinx? The origin of the sphinx is unknown.

It appears in many ancient traditions, with the oldest surviving example coming from Turkey around 9,500 BC. Thanks to the Great Sphinx of Giza, the creature is most commonly associated with Egypt. It seems probable that this is the inspiration for the sphinx recorded in Greek mythology. The Egyptians generally depicted the sphinx as male and multiple in number. It was considered a guardian. In Greek mythology, on the other hand, there’s just one Sphinx. She’s depicted as having the body of a lioness, the head of a woman, and the wings of an eagle. Her tail had a serpent head at the end of it. Oh, and she was definitely NOT a guardian. According to Greek mythology, Hera sent the Sphinx from Ethiopia to Greece in order to punish the city of Thebes for King Laius’s kidnapping and raping of a boy. The Sphinx took up residence on a high wall outside Thebes. She watched over the only entrance to the city and any would-be visitor was required to answer the Riddle of the Sphinx in order to gain passage. Those who failed to give the correct answer were strangled and eaten! In the earliest texts, the Riddle of the Sphinx is not revealed.

However, later texts give it as such: “Which creature in the morning goes on four legs, at mid-day on two, and in the evening upon three, and the more legs it has, the weaker it be?” Do you know the answer to the Riddle of the Sphinx? Answering the Riddle of the Sphinx? One day, Oedipus came along and finally solved the Riddle of the Sphinx. The correct answer was “man.” “Man, who walks on all fours in infancy, walks upright on two legs in the midday of his life, and hobbles about with a staff in old age.” ~ Oedipus Some accounts state that there was a second Riddle of the Sphinx. “There are two sisters: one gives birth to the other and she, in turn, gives birth to the first.” The answer to this Riddle of the Sphinx was “day and night.” Guerrilla Explorer’s Analysis After Oedipus solved her riddle, the Sphinx threw herself off the wall and broke into pieces on the rocks below. Alternative versions state that she strangled herself or that she refused to acknowledge the answer and he was forced to kill her.

Regardless, Oedipus’s victory is often recognized as a transition of sorts. With the death of the Sphinx came the end of ancient religious practices. In their wake would rise a new force…the ancient Olympian gods. Share this: Sphinx, Riddle of the Sphinx, Cultural Depictions, Mythology, Metaphysics - Crystalinks Cultural Depictions The sphinx archetype appeared in various forms among other ancient cultures of Western Asia and the Mediterranean, notably in Mesopotamia, Greece, and Etruria. Wings were often added to the leonine body, and female sphinxes were also created, especially in Greece (8th-6th century BC). Greece: Riddle of the Sphinx The Sphinx is said to have guarded the entrance to the Greek city of Thebes, and to have asked a riddle of travelers to allow them passage. The exact riddle asked by the Sphinx was not specified by early tellers of the stories, and was not standardized as the one given below until late in Greek history.

It was said in late lore that Hera or Ares sent the Sphinx from her Ethiopian homeland (the Greeks always remembered the foreign origin of the Sphinx) to Thebes in Greece where she asks all passersby the most famous riddle in history: "Which creature in the morning goes on four legs, at mid-day on two, and in the evening upon three, and the more legs it has, the weaker it be?" She strangled and devoured anyone unable to answer. Oedipus solved the riddle by answering: Man - who crawls on all fours as a baby, then walks on two feet as an adult, and then walks with a cane in old age. By some accounts (but much more rarely), there was a second riddle: "There are two sisters: one gives birth to the other and she, in turn, gives birth to the first." (answer: day and night�both words are feminine in Greek.) Bested at last, the tale continues, the Sphinx then threw herself from her high rock and died. An alternative version tells that she devoured herself.

Thus Oedipus can be recognized as a "liminal" or threshold figure, helping effect the transition between the old religious practices, represented by the death of the Sphinx, and the rise of the new, Olympian deities. The person behind the Great Sphinx has been a subject of debate. While there is no contemporaneous evidence indicating with certainty whom it represents, the Dream Stele erected by Pharaoh Thutmose IV in the New Kingdom associates the Sphinx with King Khafra (also known by the Hellenised version of his name, Chephren). This would place its construction during the Fourth dynasty of Egypt (2723 BC-2563 BC). Its super-colossal design is characteristic of Old Kingdom architecture, especially during Khafra's reign. Khafra is known to have ordered the building of twenty-two stone structures that were more than three times life-size, but the largest is believed to be the Great Sphinx. The Sphinx's link with Khafra therefore continues to be the most widely held view by Egyptologists, but other hypotheses exist.

In 2004, French Egyptologist Vassil Dobrev announced the results of a 20-year reexamination of historical records and uncovering of new evidence that suggest the Great Sphinx may have been the work of the little known Pharaoh Djedefre, Khafra's half brother and a son of Khufu (Cheops), the builder of the Great Pyramid of Giza. Dobrev suggests it was built by Djedefre in the image of his father Khufu, identifying him with the sun god Ra in order to restore respect for their dynasty. In common with many famous constructions of remote antiquity, the Great Sphinx has over the years attracted speculative assertions by non-specialists, mystics, and general writers. The reasons for these alternative theories of the origin, purpose and history of the monument invoke a wide array of sources and associations, such as neighboring cultures, astrology, lost continents and civilizations (e.g. Atlantis), numerology, mythology and other esoteric subjects. Egyptologists and the wider scientific community largely ignore such claims; however, on occasion they are drawn into public debate with these theorists, particularly when the claim purports to rely upon some novel or re-interpreted data from an academic field of study.

Ancient Greek Sphinx from Delphi The Sphinx sometimes appears in Greek mythology as a monster with a woman's head and breasts, dog's body, lion's paws, wings of an eagle, and the tail of the serpent-who questioned Oedipus. Egypt To the ancient Egyptians, the Great Sphinx symbolically represented the Nile and its seasons. She was also a manifestation of Hathor, Goddess of birth and death. The Sphinx was built as guardian of the horizons, the rising and setting sun. It held the keys to the wisdom gates. In the path to deep knowing, initiates had to confront the challenges that the Sphinx posed. Crisophinx (lion body with ram head) Hierocosphinx (lion body with hawk head) Androsphinx (lion body with human head, like the Great Sphinx) Large-scale examples carved in stone often served to guard sanctuaries in ancient Egypt. Although usually depicted in a recumbent position, some sphinxes were shown trampling Egypt's foes.

Typical Egyptian sphinx with a human head Sphinx of Egyptian pharaoh Hatshepsut with unusual ear and ruff features, 1503-1482 BC Row of Sphinx from Luxor to Karnak The Great Sphinx was believed to stand as a guardian of the Giza Plateau, where it faces the rising sun. It was the focus of solar worship in the Old Kingdom, centered in the adjoining temples built around the time of its probable construction. Its animal form, the lion, has long been a symbol associated with the sun in ancient Near Eastern civilizations. Images depicting the Egyptian king in the form of a lion smiting his enemies appear as far back as the Early Dynastic Period of Egypt. During the New Kingdom, the Sphinx became more specifically associated with the god Hor-em-akhet (Greek Harmachis) or Horus at the Horizon, which represented the Pharaoh in his role as the Shesep ankh of Atum (living image of Atum). A temple was built to the northeast of the Sphinx by King Amenhotep II, nearly a thousand years after its construction, dedicated to the cult of Horemakhet.

South and South-East Asia A composite mythological being with the body of a lion and the head of a human being is present in the traditions, mythology and art of South and South-East Asia Variously known as purushamriga (Sanskrit, "man-beast"), purushamirukam (Tamil, "man-beast"), naravirala (Sanskrit, "man-cat") in India, or as nara-simha (Sanskrit, "man-lion") in Sri Lanka, manusiha or manuthiha (Pali, "man-lion") in Myanmar, and nora nair or thepnorasingh in Thailand. In contrast to the sphinx in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Greece, where the traditions largely have been lost due to the discontinuity of the civilization, the traditions of the "Asian sphinx" are very much alive today. The earliest artistic depictions of "sphinxes" from the South Asian subcontinent are to some extent influenced by Hellenistic art and writings. These hail from the period when Buddhist art underwent a phase of Hellenistic influence.

But the "sphinxes" from Mathura, Kausambi, and Sanchi, dated to the third century BC until the first century AD, also show a considerable non-Hellenist, indigenous character. It is not possible, therefore, to conclude the concept of the "sphinx" originated through foreign influence. In South India, the "sphinx" is known as purushamriga (Sanskrit) or purushamirukam (Tamil), meaning "man-beast". It is found depicted in sculptural art in temples and palaces where it serves an apotropaic purpose, just as the "sphinxes" in other parts of the ancient world. It is said by the tradition, to take away the sins of the devotees when they enter a temple and to ward off evil in general. It is therefore often found in a strategic position on the gopuram or temple gateway, or near the entrance of the Sanctum Sanctorum. The purushamriga plays a significant role in daily as well as yearly ritual of South Indian Shaiva temples.

In the sodasa-upacara (or sixteen honors) ritual, performed between one to six times at significant sacred moments through the day, it decorates one of the lamps of the diparadhana or lamp ceremony. And in several temples the purushamriga is also one of the vahana or vehicles of the deity during the processions of the Brahmotsava or festival. In Kanya Kumari district, in the southernmost tip of the Indian subcontinent, during the night of Shiva Ratri, devotees run 75 kilometres while visiting and worshiping at twelve Shiva temples. This Shiva Ottam (or Run for Shiva) is performed in commemoration of the story of the race between the Sphinx and Bhima, one of the heroes of the epic Mahabharata. The Indian conception of a sphinx that comes closest to the classic Greek idea, is in the concept of the Sharabha, a mythical creature, part lion, part man and part bird, and the form of Sharabha that god Shiva took on to counter Narasimha's violence. In Philippines, the sphinx is known as nicolonia.

It is depicted as part man and part eagle that is known to ask riddles to wanderers who trespass in the Bicol region. Anyone who fails to answer its riddle is said to be carried off to the Mayon Volcano where they are said to be offered to the volcano god, Gev'ra, to appease his anger. In Sri Lanka, the sphinx is known as narasimha or man-lion. As a sphinx, it has the body of a lion and the head of a human being, and is not to be confused with Narasimha, the fourth reincarnation of the deity Vishnu; this avatara or incarnation is depicted with a human body and the head of a lion. The "sphinx" narasimha is part of the Buddhist tradition and functions as a guardian of the northern direction and also was depicted on banners. In Burma, the sphinx is known as manussiha (manuthiha). It is depicted on the corners of Buddhist stupas, and its legends tell how it was created by Buddhist monks to protect a new-born royal baby from being devoured by ogresses.

Nora Nair and Thep Norasingh are two of the names under which the "sphinx" is known in Thailand. They are depicted as upright walking beings with the lower body of a lion or deer, and the upper body of a human. Often they are found as female-male pairs. Here, too, the sphinx serves a protective function. It also is enumerated among the mythological creatures that inhabit the ranges of the sacred mountain Himapan. Revived Sphinxes in Europe The revived Mannerist sphinx of the sixteenth century is sometimes thought of as the French sphinx. Her coiffed head is erect and she has the breasts of a young woman. Often she wears ear drops and pearls as ornaments. Her body is naturalistically rendered as a recumbent lioness. Such sphinxes were revived when the grottesche or "grotesque" decorations of the unearthed "Golden House" (Domus Aurea) of Nero were brought to light in late fifteenth century Rome, and she was incorporated into the classical vocabulary of arabesque designs that spread throughout Europe in engravings during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Sphinxes were included in the decoration of the loggia of the Vatican Palace by the workshop of Raphael (1515�20), which updated the vocabulary of the Roman grottesche. The first appearances of sphinxes in French art are in the School of Fontainebleau in the 1520s and 1530s and she continues into the Late Baroque style of the French Regence (1715�1723). From France, she spread throughout Europe, becoming a regular feature of the outdoors decorative sculpture of eighteenth-century palace gardens, as in the Upper Belvedere Palace in Vienna, Sanssouci Park in Potsdam, La Granja in Spain, Branicki Palace in Bialystok, or the late Rococo examples in the grounds of the Portuguese Queluz National Palace (of perhaps the 1760s), with ruffs and clothed chests ending with a little cape. Sphinxes are a feature of the neoclassical interior decorations of Robert Adam and his followers, returning closer to the undressed style of the grottesche.

They had an equal appeal to artists and designers of the romantic, and later symbolism movements in the nineteenth century. Most of these sphinxes alluded to the Greek sphinx, rather than the Egyptian, although they may not have wings. Sphinxes in Freemasonry The sphinx image also has been adopted into Masonic architecture. Among the Egyptians, sphinxes were placed at the entrance of the temple to guard the mysteries, by warning those who penetrated within, that they should conceal a knowledge of them from the uninitiated. Champollion says that the sphinx became successively the symbol of each of the gods, by which Portal suggests that the priests intended to express the idea that all the gods were hidden from the people, and that the knowledge of them, guarded in the sanctuaries, was revealed to the initiates only. As a Masonic emblem, the sphinx has been adopted in its Egyptian character as a symbol of mystery, and as such often is found as a decoration sculptured in front of Masonic temples, or engraved at the head of Masonic documents. It cannot, however, be properly called an ancient, recognized symbol of the Order.

Its introduction has been of comparatively recent date, and rather as a symbolic decoration than as a symbol that announces any dogma. Similar Creatures The 32,000 year old Aurignacian L�wenfrau Goddess is the oldest known anthropomorphic statue. Previously known as the Lion man, she has a human female body and a lioness head. Not all human-headed animals of antiquity are sphinxes. In ancient Assyria, for example, bas-reliefs of shedu bulls with the crowned bearded heads of kings guarded the entrances of the temples. In the classical Olympian mythology of Greece, all the deities had human form, although they could assume their animal natures as well. All the creatures of Greek myth who combine human and animal form are archaic survivals: centaurs, Typhon, Medusa, Lamia. Narasimha ("man-lion") is described as an incarnation (avatar) of Vishnu within the Puranic texts of Hinduism who takes the form of half-man / half-Asiatic Lion, having a human torso and lower body, but with a lion-like face and claws. The Manticore is a similar creature, who also features a lion's body with human-like face.

Channelings There is a temple under the Sphinx. There is a UFO between the Sphinx and The Great Pyramid. A record of the lost city of Atlantis lies somewhere under the Sphinx's paws in the Hall of Records. The 32,000 year old Aurignacian L�wenfrau Goddess is the oldest known anthropomorphic statue. Previously known as the Lion man, she has a human female body and a lioness head. Not all human-headed animals of antiquity are sphinxes. In ancient Assyria, for example, bas-reliefs of shedu bulls with the crowned bearded heads of kings guarded the entrances of the temples. In the classical Olympian mythology of Greece, all the deities had human form, although they could assume their animal natures as well. All the creatures of Greek myth who combine human and animal form are archaic survivals: centaurs, Typhon, Medusa, Lamia. Narasimha ("man-lion") is described as an incarnation (avatar) of Vishnu within the Puranic texts of Hinduism who takes the form of half-man / half-Asiatic Lion, having a human torso and lower body, but with a lion-like face and claws.

The Manticore is a similar creature, who also features a lion's body with human-like face. Edgar Cayce, According to Edgar Cayce, the Sphinx was built in 10,500 BC by survivors of the vanished civilization of Atlantis. In the bedrock under the Sphinx they had built a Hall of Records containing all the wisdom of that civilization. The opening to the Hall of Records which holds the history of the Earth, will be found in the right shoulder of the Sphinx. If you bisect the golden mean that fits around the spiral at the Giza plateau, it passes exactly through the headdress of the Sphinx. Also, extended from the southern face of the middle pyramid and the line that bisects the golden mean, forms a cross that marks a very specific spot on the right shoulder of the Sphinx. Cayce gave the date of the opening of the Hall of Records between 1996 -1998 by certain chosen people. He was not correct. He said that this was all relative to the level of consciousness of humanity at that time. They had to be ready to receive the information.

These claims, and the astronomical and archaeological data upon which they are based, have been refuted by scholars who have examined them, notably the astronomers Ed Krupp and Anthony Fairall. The refuting evidence includes noting that the correspondence of the angles between the pyramids and the angles in Orion's Belt at that epoch is not in fact precise or even very close, that the Age of Leo (period when the Sun's path appears in this constellation at the equinoxes) in fact starts 1500 years later than this, that the Zodiac of western astrology is known to have originated in Mesopotamia and not pre-ancient Egypt, and that if the Sphinx is meant to represent Leo, then it should be on the other side of the Nile (the "Milky Way") from the pyramids ("Orion"). Drunvalo Melchizedek I met Drunvalo Melchizedek in June 1996 while attending the first Star Knowledge Conference in South Dakota. Drunvalo said that he had met Thoth in the Sphinx where he allegedly told Drunvalo ... The head of the sphinx will fall off one day.

A large golden sphere, which is a time capsule, will be found in the neck. 148 sets of three people would try to enter the Halls of Records, until one of these sets, coming from the West, would open the doorway by making a sound with their voice. Inside there would be a spiral staircase going into an underground room. These three people eventually will come down a long stone hallway lit on its own with no lights; that is, the air itself would be luminous. High up on the left side of the wall would be etched forty-eight sacred geometry drawings. These are the illustrations of the chromosomes of Christ-consciousness. The first one being the 'flower of life'. At the end of the hallway there is a slight right-hand turn into a large room. Sitting on the raised shelves of this room is physical evidence of the existence of a civilization on this planet for the last five and a half million years. At the front of the room is a stone. At the top of the stone these three people would find something like a photographic representation of themselves. Beneath the images in the photograph they would find their names - not necessarily the names they were given at birth, but their soul names.

Underneath the names would be a date, which would be that date. Each of these three people will be allowed to remove one of these objects and take it out. Sphinx Sphinx The Sphinx was an ancient Egyptian divinity, who personified wisdom, and the fertility of nature. She is represented as a lion-couchant, with the head and bust of a woman, and wears a peculiar sort of hood, which completely envelops her head, and falls down on either side of the face. Transplanted into Greece, this sublime and mysterious Egyptian deity degenerates into an insignificant, and yet malignant power, and though she also deals in mysteries, they are, as we shall see, of a totally different character, and altogether inimical to human life. The Sphinx is represented, according to Greek genealogy, as the offspring of Typhon and Echidna. Hera, being upon one occasion displeased with the Thebans, sent them this awful monster, as a punishment for their offences.

Taking her seat on a rocky eminence near the city of Thebes, commanding a pass which the Thebans were compelled to traverse in their usual way of business, she propounded to all comers a riddle, and if they failed to solve it, she tore them in pieces. During the reign of King Creon, so many people had fallen a sacrifice to this monster, that he determined to use every effort to rid the country of so terrible a scourge. On consulting the oracle of Delphi, he was informed that the only way to destroy the Sphinx was to solve one of her riddles, when she would immediately precipitate herself from the rock on which she was seated. Creon, accordingly, made a public declaration to the effect, that whoever could give the true interpretation of a riddle propounded by the monster, should obtain the crown, and the hand of his sister Jocaste.

Oedipus offered himself as a candidate, and proceeding to the spot where she kept guard, received from her the following riddle for solution: "What creature goes in the morning on four legs, at noon on two, and in the evening on three?" Oedipus replied, that it must be man, who during his infancy creeps on all fours, in his prime walks erect on two legs, and when old age has enfeebled his powers, calls a staff to his assistance, and thus has, as it were, three legs. The Sphinx no sooner heard this reply, which was the correct solution of her riddle, than she flung herself over the precipice, and perished in the abyss below. The Greek Sphinx may be recognized by having wings and by being of smaller dimensions than the Egyptian Sphinx. From: Berens, E.M. The Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome. New York: Maynard, Merril, & Co., 1880. Text in the public domain.

Question: According to Greek mythology, who solved 'The Riddle Of The Sphinx'?
Answer: OEDIPUS